Arranged Marriages Essay

Arranged Marriages have been around since time can remember. An arranged marriage is a marital union between a man and a woman who were selected to be wedded together by a third party. Historically, arrange marriages were the main way to marry. In certain parts of the world, it is still the primary approach. There are two types of arrange marriages. The first is a traditional marriage where the children can, with strong objections, refuse to marry their soon to be spouse. In a forced marriage, the children have no say in the matter. Bread Givers shows an excellent representation of the pressures on children from their parents to be married against their will.

Arranged marriage is found in various cultures and countries around the world, including Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East; having an arranged marriage is thought of as an Afghani tradition and has been a part of life for many families. The practice of arranged marriage has advantages and disadvantages; it can create more family power and give more financial security. Sadly being forced into a marriage can disrupt the independence of the engaged, most women stop their education when they become engaged resulting in many women being illiterate. This makes it impossible for them to be successful without depending on their husbands. Arranged marriage is found in many cultures throughout the modern world, though in a lot of cases it results in a happy family it can also be very limiting on women and often girls are married before they can give consent.

In our society, we wouldn’t consider arranged marriages as a normal thing we are, use to consensual heterosexual serial monogamy. But in some countries, they do consider arranged marriages normal. In India, arranged marriages have been apart of the Indian culture since the fourth century and many consider it a central fabric of Indian society (Arranged Marriages, Matchmakers, and Dowries in India, 2000). Pakistan also considers arranged marriages as normal in Pakistani culture elders of the family are considered wise and they are the ones who help pick out a spouse a family member (Arranged Marriages are the Part of Pakistani Culture, 2012). Japan still practices arranged marriage but now less than ten percent of marriages are arranged compared to half a century ago when about seventy percent were arranged(Tying the Knot, 1998). In China, they have marriage markets where parents line the pathways share with other parents their clippings they have on their child, hoping to find a good match for their child (Epatko, 2015). Still, today many countries consider arranged marriages normal.

ReferencesAugust, P. (2005, October). Arranged Marriages in the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriageBowman, H. & Spanier, G. (1978). Modern Marriage. McGraw-Hill Book Company.

In the Renaissance period, marriage was far different and much longer process than it is today. Particularly in the Elizabethan era, marriages were frequently arranged so that both families involved would benefit. Marriages would be arranged to bring prestige, honour and wealth to the family. For the upper class, marriage rarely involved love. Courting outside of one’s class was strictly forbidden and punishable by death in some circumstances. Marriage followed a strict set of protocols that signify maturity and coming into one’s own. In this time, dowries often played a large part in the decision to marry. A dowry, is the custom in which involves an interchange of cash, jewels, foods, estates between the father

Marriages tended to be for strategic purposes rather than love, so family life in the Elizabethan Era was different than family life today ("Elizabethan Family Life” 1).

During the early 1800s, marriage was seen as a fortification of wealth and power through the unification of two families instead of a declaration of endearment, as reflected through the materialistic marriage customs in the Antebellum South. Generally, a man’s parents designated a future spouse for their son, based off of a woman’s familial ties and financial stature, due to the economic ramifications that the marriage had upon each party involved (O’Neil). Although financial characteristics of the bride’s family were primarily the deciding factor, men typically prefered to marry a compliant woman with “piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity” (Fontin), considering that the gender roles at the time denounced women with ambitious or assertive

While exploring the ways of European royalty by journeying through lives, I was struck by the system of arranged marriages. Kings and Queens would arrange the marriages of their children with the royalty of other countries to serve as treaties between borderlines. Often, children were promised to those who were tens years or more their senior or junior, such as the case of Henry VIII’s younger sister, Mary Tudor. Mary was betrothed at age eighteen to the recently widowed 52-year-old Louis XII of France. This marriage was arranged as an act of peace that settled any rivalry between France and

In the nineteenth century, the marriages were arranged by the parents. The parents would arrange the marriages by wealth. The women and men do not have the chance to start the relationship as friendship or girlfriend and boyfriend, so they are able to see if they love each other. Instead they go straight into man and wife, they do not have the love for each other until later on in the relationship. Once the women get married their wealth also belongs to the husband. If the women worked later in the marriage, the earning she received will belong to her husband. The women do not have a say in their marriage. The women do as their husband tells them. The husbands had the control over the wives. The man had the power in everything the wife did

Couples who dare cross the social conventions have to cope with a lot of social pressure within their families and outside. These problems are more acute in the rural areas compared to the urban areas and metropolitan cities. Much depends upon the family background. If parents are educated and enlightened on both sides, things would be easier for the children, who get involved in unconventional relationships. One of the evils of Hindu marriages is the ubiquitous dowry system.

What does marriage mean? By definition, marriage is “the legal union of a man and a woman as husband and wife” (Webster’s Dictionary). Most people claim that they want their marriage to last a lifetime. Because over half of all marriages in the United States end in a divorce, most people lack the understanding of what it takes to stay married. I believe that couples should become more aware of the commitment that they are making when they enter into marriage.

From the perspective of a Utilitarian, one would argue that arranged marriage is both ethical and unethical. A utilitarian decides whether an action is good or bad based on the results that bring the greatest good to the greatest number of people affected by the action. The so called good can be defined as “happiness.” In India, places where arranged marriage are very common because it is part of their culture. Therefore in a Utilitarian eyes it would be ethical to get married if it were part of your culture and geographical location because betraying your culture would do more harm and some forms of happiness are superior to others. Many couples find themselves to be part of happy marriages like we saw in the article What It’s Really Like To Have An Arranged Marriage. Sandaya, the bride, who lived in India had an arranged marriage set by her parents. She felt honored to have done this for her family and knew it was a

Sub-Point: Arranged marriage was so popular an option as history moved on, that many royals took part in the option such as: Louis XVI and Marie Antionette, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon

Do arranged marriages violate human rights as they are protected by international humanitarian law? Marriage is a vital part of the social and economic life of a person’s life. It forms the foundation for a continued family line, and the backdrop for raising children. In most societies, marriage is an important relation both between the two people and between the person and the society, and there are many rituals and traditions tied to the marriage. In many parts of the world, arranged marriages are still common, and are the expected and accepted way to find someone to share a lifetime with.

“Made in heaven, found on earth - marriages are a new beginning according to some and the final end for others” (“Arranged Marriage”, 2009). Marriage is religiously and socially a huge responsibility and its failure could affect societies negatively. Arranged marriages are planned by families, when the bride and the groom are chosen either randomly from a wedding or by family relatives. Especially in the Gulf countries, certain families consider such marriages of high social importance. Arranged marriages in this region have a low expectancy of success. Forced marriages, short engagements and incompatibility between potential couples are the main causes of divorce in arranged marriages in the Gulf region.